On April 1, 1966, four lads from the small town of Andover, England, entered a recording studio in London and emerged just two takes later with an acetate that sounded as primitive as their name: The Troggs, short for “Troglodytes.” Primitive, yes—and irresistible, a matter of three chords and an assertion that a certain young something had coated this miserable world with grooviness, a transformation not to be despised.

Released later in the month, “Wild Thing” started its long climb up the charts, eventually hitting #1 on the U.S. pop charts on July 9 while attaining the #2 slot in the United Kingdom. That it made the top ten in the United States was a matter of some controversy; somehow, in a case of the left hand not knowing what the right hand was doing, “Wild Thing” was released on two separate labels, Atco and Fontana. Because each recording came from the same master, though, the statisticians decided to combine the sales figures, and #1 it was.

The Troggs are still around, though happily named lead singer Reg Presley spends much of his time of late researching the paranormal, especially crop circles. He is also reputed to have patented a fog-dispersal device in use on British motorways today. Though he wrote other songs, “Wild Thing” was not his original, instead flowing from the pen of the prolific songwriter Chip Taylor—incidentally, the brother of actor Jon Voight and uncle of Angelina Jolie—who wrote the almost diametrically opposed song “Angel in the Morning” as well.

Here are the Troggs performing their hit in a proto–music video from 1966. Jimi Hendrix, speaking of left hands, made the song his own, turning the Troggs’ bad-boy image up to 11 and mixing in a little of Frank Sinatra‘s hit “Strangers in the Night” before setting his guitar afire. The first recording of the song, by a band called The Wild Ones, follows, as does a version by the girl group The Runaways, the subjects of a recently released movie of the same name. We close with the wildest thing of all, Animal, drummer and tutelary spirit of The Muppets. Please enjoy.